(Editors’ note: In our previous article, Iris Slappendel outlined some of the biggest challenges in the sport, and pointed out several different types of sexism and harassment that still occur within women’s cycling. This second article shares the personal accounts of various women who have experienced these types of problems, their personal insights, and some of their recommendations about what needs to change inside the sport in order to break these cycles of abuse.) A legacy of abuse and sexism unfortunately continues to simmer just beneath the surface of women’s professional cycling – and particularly within the smaller and more thinly-supported teams. This negative culture puts many cyclists at risk, and severely undermines the sport’s reputation and potential for long-term economic growth. Governance protections and oversight in place today are woefully inadequate. Rather...

The Coors Classic introduced pro cycling to a wide audience in the United States, and helped to create many of its early icons – including Greg LeMond, Connie Carpenter, Inga Thompson, and Andy Hampsten. While much of cycling’s fan base today is too young to have seen the race in person, it put the U.S. on the international cycling map in the 1980s, and eventually became one of the top four cycling events in the world. The Coors Classic was, in many ways, the brainchild of the impresario and director Michael Aisner, and the influence of his race, and its innovative approaches to connect with fans and communities, is still being felt today. Aisner is something of a renaissance man and a seeming perpetual energy machine – and has been involved in a wide range of sporting and entertainment projects throughout his life. One website describes him as “a shotgun blast of worldwide wandering...

(Editors’ note: this is the first article in a multi-part series delving into the current state of women’s pro cycling. Part 1 is a detailed discussion with recently retired racer Iris Slappendel, one of pro cycling’s emerging leaders, and a passionate voice for both articulating the challenges and improving the opportunities for women in the sport.) Iris Slappendel was one of the most consistent, strongest and smartest one-day riders of her generation, adept at timing a winning move, and at strategically setting up her teammates for victory. The former top professional had many great moments in her career – from her 20 personal victories, numerous high placings and teammates’ victories in top-tier races, to the joyous camaraderie that comes with riding alongside or against your friends in the peloton. Her most notable career achievement was an unexpected and hard-fought National...

(Editors’ Note: This article briefly summarizes a detailed independent review and analysis of the current operations and performance of the Cycliste Professionnels Associés (CPA) – professional road cycling’s athlete representation organization. The full report is available here.) The Cycliste Professionnels Associés (CPA) was formed in 1999, to better coordinate professional cycling’s pre-existing national rider associations, to “act as a reference point” in the case of issues which went beyond national borders, and more generally to protect the rights and interests of riders. Among its important early accomplishments, the CPA developed a “Joint Agreement” with the teams’ organization – to help govern the relationship between teams and their riders; and a riders’ “Solidarity Fund” – to provide limited financial support to certain retiring riders. It was hoped that the organization...

Introduction: This document presents an independent review and analysis of the Cycliste Professionnels Associés (CPA) – professional road cycling’s only recognized athlete representation organization. Following a brief historical background, Part I reviews the CPA’s activities and operations from an internal perspective – how has the organization operated historically and how it is performing today, relative to the guidelines, objectives and expectations set forth in its own charter and by-laws. Part II reviews the CPA’s activities and performance from an external perspective – benchmarking the organization against an accepted set of broader industry governance standards. The relevant criteria here are: (a) the CPA’s level of transparency – and the degree of openness with which it conducts its operations; (b) the organization’s commitment to democratic processes; (c) its utilization...

Television viewership of pro cycling has been going down, and the trend is likely to continue if the sport doesn’t work on enhancing and modernizing its viewership strategy. The 2016 Tour de France, for example, was the least-watched edition of the sport’s premier event since 2009. And this directly impacts the primary revenue source: sponsorship. The global shift in entertainment content to on-demand online viewing, combined with pro cycling’s lack of a unified broadcast licensing strategy and its escalating broadcast costs, is leading to a situation where the sport may have trouble maintaining future revenues. A smaller audience in a “number-of-eyeballs”–driven business model implies lower return on the critical investments those sponsors provide. Over the long-term, that may drive sponsors away from the sport. In the past, we have examined how broadcast costs can be brought...

Cycling’s governing body, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and Tour de France race organizer Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) recently backtracked on one of the key WorldTour reforms both parties agreed to this year. The number of WorldTour teams in 2017 will remain at 18 instead of the ratified plan to trim it to 17, a move which enables continuity of the Dimension Data team’s WorldTour license next year, and quite possibly, the team’s longer-term survival. But by agreeing to make this exception, The UCI and ASO have set a dangerous precedent and a further potential setback to the sport’s investment climate. Control over the sport’s economic future is at the heart of the matter here, just as we have described in several previous articles. The UCI and ASO seem incapable of breaking their long standing stalemate over how the sport should be run, and as a result, their...

Seemingly lost in the furor surrounding TUEs, Bradley Wiggins and the upcoming World Championships is the fact that ownership of the Giro d’Italia changed hands earlier this month. Italian businessman Urbano Cairo, a protégé of former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a magazine publisher, gained control of the parent RCS Mediagroup in a deal that just closed a few days ago. The Financial Times reported that Cairo’s takeover is “seen as an uprooting of the vestiges of Milan’s old establishment …. who prized seats in RCS Mediagroup’s boardroom above all for its political and social influence.” Mr. Cairo also told the newspaper that he intended to slash costs in the new organization. All of this could be a big deal for professional cycling. One of the assets hidden somewhere down in the RCS Media Group is the Giro d’Italia – the world’s second largest Grand Tour and itself an iconic...